I've been programming in Access for over six years and have never come across a more comprehensive and easy-to-follow set of books than these Developer's Handbooks (both Desktop and Enterprise). I started with the 2000 version and will always purchase the next versions as they become available.

As an old Access 95 Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) I thought I knew the majority of the ins-and-outs of Access programming. Paul Litwin, Ken Getz, Mike Gunderloy - I give you my thanks for teaching this old dog new tricks.

As a small developer, my resources for materials is somewhat limited among the thousands available. I have found the Developer's Handbook(s) from Sybex to be valuable in my daily development. They are written so that beginning chapters are easily understand even by beginning developers and continue on with a wealth of reference for the most advanced. With these books, I can honestly say that I have not yet found any programming problem I cannot solve.

In 7+ years of VB/VBA development, I have purchased many, many reference books. Most of them have been very helpful. The Access 2000 Developer's Handbook 2 Volumn Set surpasses all others in terms of width, breadth, and depth of information (as well as in sheer weight).

Many development reference books contain CDs with freebies, code examples, etc. The CD in Volume 1 is the first one from which I have ever cut and paste code. The pop-up calendar in Chapter 8 and the CommonDlg class in Chapter 17 were most helpful.

As stated in other reviews, these books are really for advanced developers and they are relatively expensive, but they literally paid for themselves the first time I opened them up for help.

Yes, this is an odd book. Some of the entries were very funny, some very odd, and some were really quite disturbing. However, despite being put off by some of the stories, I did thoroughly enjoy the way Lennon wrote. The play on words were especially humurous if very hard to interpret at times.

This book may not be for those who enjoy traditional comedy, but it's certainly worth a read if you're looking for something new. The complete randomness and, well, weirdness of Lennon's style (and, perhaps, mind) are very intriguing, whether you find it funny or not.

The introduction by Yoko Ono is also worth a look at (it's a little suprising, but oddly thought-provoking).

I read and bought this when I was a kid when it first came out . It stayed with me all my life. His humor was cynical and dry,: but asolutely right on target with the times that past and the times to come. Hilarious and not so funny but completely understood. A book that I would love to repurchase when I return back to work and have an income again. To pass on to my kids and my grandkids. A shame to have lost such a vibrant,intelligent and loving man. He gave me the will to survive a very dysfunctional life. His music and his write may they live forever.

I love The Beatles and I love nonsense so this was a perfect match. When you feel you've been thinking too much for one day this is the book to read it is just pure fun. The little short stories just make you giggle even if you're one of those people who never laughs when reading. This book also makes John Lennon seem more human since he has become this legend you get to see this silly but still genius side to him. Just a warning don't try making sense of this book it will just give you a headache just read it for kicks. To quote dear Mr.Lennon "this correction of short writty is the most wonderfoul larf I've ever ready."

As a tutor in 3D animation at the Academy of Interactive Entertainment, also a person who loves to draw and read comics the Batman Animated book is one of the best books I have bought. A lot of examples of drawings and storyboards come with the book which is great, also the information of the problems they had while making the animated series and ways they fixed it was very interesting. This book is great to buy if you want to look at pictures or if you want info on the series. two thumbs up.

This excellent book chronicles all aspects of the most recent animated incarnation of "The Dark Knight".

Packed with artwork from the series (including some great storyboard sequences), as well as some cool photographs of the various B:TAS merchandise; this book is a must have for any fan of Batman, or animation.

Fans should also check out Chip Kidd's excellent "Batman Collected".

A spectacular inside view of what went into one of the best animated series ever created, full of paintings, musings, mechandise, idea sketches for the show and movies, etc. I enjoyed most reading about what they were forced to cut for a tv audience, and seeing the beautiful title cards that open each show. I bought this a few years back and I am still finding new things to pour over. I dislike 'Batman Beyond', though, thankfully they don't waste much time on that show.

I will not repeat what other reviewers have said about this classic learner's dictionary. It has been a valuable reference for ESL students for many decades. I own several learner's dictionaries published recently (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 4th Edition, Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary, and Collins Cobuild 3rd edition) and some of them have features this one does not have. But I still use this dictionary a lot and will continue to use it. I hope a new edition of it will come out soon.

No other book on my bookshelf is more worn out. I use it all the time. When I started to study English I used to use an English / Portuguese (my first language) dictionary but I could only actually improve my English when I started using the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

The dictionary has lots of pictures (over 1700) for words that can be explained but for which a picture is much more effective like "hinge". The words have a pronunciation guide with a mark (') showing the main stress. There are many useful appendixes like irregular verbs conjugation, usage of numbers, punctuation, family relationships and a few colorful maps.

Over 220 usage notes clarify the subtle differences among words such as dealer trader and merchant. Although it's mainly a British English dictionary the differences in spelling, use or pronunciation between American English and British English are stressed.

By far the most interesting feature is the extremely reduced defining vocabulary constituted of 3500 words. The great majority of definitions are written using that reduced defining vocabulary. This simplifies the definitions and it's a great starting vocabulary for the beginners. The use of such a small defining vocabulary rules out the use of this dictionary as a thesaurus but the advantages compensate this drawback.

My copy is a paper back that has been reinforced with adhesive tape. This makes the dictionary lighter and handy. I used to put it on my back pack and take it to all my classes when I started college in USA.

The drawbacks are the need of an additional thesaurus and the fact that the entries are not syllabified. Nevertheless I would give it 10 stars if I could.

Leonardo Alves - December 2000

I have recently bought the millenium edition (hardbound) of this book. In my scientific studies (I study Scientology which uses a precise study technology that demands a good dictionary to look up misunderstood words) a good dictionary is vital.
This one has been very helpful to me as it gives precise yet comprehensible definitions. This is maybe the most important point of all.
I found it very easy to look up a word i did not understand and gain a conceptual understanding of that word after a short period of time. The definitions just make sense and are not too complicated and confusing.
It also includes example sentences and idioms and information for the further usage of a particular word.
It also has a section with colored pictures (maps, categories such as clothing, food, animals etc.) that provide a picture of the real thing that the word represents - a quite useful tool for foreigners and non native speakers like me.

If you are currently studying english, reading english texts (but have a limited vocabulary) or just don't want to run into too many complexities when using a dictionary and don't want to be too confused but you just want to know the meaning of a word and understand it, then this is the right dictionary for you.

As it is a dictionary for "learners" it does not include things like etymology and syllables (the only negative points), technical definitions (although it includes some where their appearance is reasonable) etc.

But it includes phonetic symbols at the bottom of each page and has, as all dictionaries, a section wich explains each symbol and abbreviation that can appear in an entry.
If there would appear some symbol or abbreviation in the entry that you wouldn't understand, you would find it easy to find its meaning as everything in this dictionary is exactly where you would consider it to be.
So you don't fool around loosing time and getting frustrated. I think the editors of some dictionaries assume that you already know all these symbols but include their definitions anyway in a very complicated way.

Not with this one.
I highly recommend this dictionary. You can buy it without reservations.
But...you should have a second one with etymologies at hand.

It's a rare thing indeed to discover a movie adaptation is actually better than the book that inspired it, but here it is: Paul Brickhill's THE GREAT ESCAPE is a great plot with no characters to speak of.

Brickhill gives a firsthand account of the escape of 76 men from Sagan, a German prisoner-of-war camp, during World War II. Through tireless efforts and disheartening setbacks, the men managed to dig a lengthy tunnel 30 feet down into the earth, and 300 feet towards possible freedom. The plan, which originally called for three such tunnels, was the single largest escape in WWII history, and the efforts, patience, and bravery of the men secures their escape as one of the most noble efforts of man.

What a pity, then, that THE GREAT ESCAPE is a fairly badly written first-hand narrative, related with all the style of a person making a grocery list. Brickhill has provided the bones of an amazing story, but he neglected to provide any meat along with them.

The story couldn't help but lend itself to a fascinating read. The actions of these men could never be anything less than remarkable. But all Brickhill does is tell the story. He doesn't add any true characterization to the hundreds of people who pop in and out, resulting in a lack of empathy for these men. The reader is left wanting to know more, but is frustratingly denied the opportunity. Even the leader, Roger Bushell, is a cipher, easily interchangeable with any other character.

It is easy to see why this story makes such fertile ground for a movie. The plot is astonishing, and the complete absence of any true personality leaves the filmmakers free to make up any character they want. Roger Bushell didn't escape from Sagan, Richard Attenborough did. So did Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson.

I don't want to seem as if I am making light of the situation. THE GREAT ESCAPE was a shining example of what humanity can achieve under the most strenuous circumstances. But Brickhill doesn't provide us with any reason to care. The story unfolds with all the excitement and tension of someone telling of their day at work. Simplicity in storytelling can be a fine thing, but not where the story demands so much more.

Paul Brickhill, based on his actual experiences in a prison camp and using characters based on real life POW's, takes the reader behind the wire at a World War II prison camp. These men were trapped, unable to fight for their country in battle, so they found a way to do the next best thing. Led by Roger Bushell, they formed the X organization, a group of the most intelligent and resourceful prisoners from the British and American air forces. Using only their wits and the few materials available, they devised and executed a plan to tunnel under the fences and escape into Nazi Germany. Unfortunately this led to fifty of the escapees being shot by the Gestapo, but Brickhill does credit to their memory with this book. Using a light writing style, humorous anecdotes, and fascinating descriptions, Brickhill has created an entirely readable adventure with charismatic protagonists who gain the readers respect and sympathy from page one.

220 Allied POWs would have been swarming all over the Third Reich before the Germans realized they were missing. Unfortunately, only 76 managed to escape through a tunnel under Stalag Luft III that had taken a year to dig. Of those 76, only 3 managed to make their way back to Britain. Twelve found themselves back in Stalag Luft II in a matter of days. Eight wound up in concentration camps. The remaining 50 were shot by the Gestapo, on orders from Hitler himself. Among the 50 was South African-born RAF Squadron Leader Roger Bushell, a.k.a. "Big X", the originator of the escape plan. The Great Escape is an incredible read. While the book is narrated from third person omniscience, its author was anything but detatched from the story. Paul Brickhill mentions his own role in the escape only very briefly in the foreword to the work. A key element of the escape plan, as Brickhill recounts in great detail, was the forging of official papers required for freedom of movement across the Reich. Brickhill led the gang of "stooges" that warned the forgers when camp guards approached. He found himself barred from participating in the actual escape when Big X learned of his acute claustrophobia. That fear may well have saved his life. After the war, Brickhill interviewed several of his other fellow survivors to assemble the grand narrative. The result is a riveting tale that ranks among the greatest war stories ever written, fact or fiction. You've seen the movie. Now read the book!

This is just a heck of a book - the best of all the Yankee books out there. As the flap copy says: "There are picks and profiles of the greatest (and worst) Yankee teams-sure to get a few arguments going. There are quotes, a quiz, lists, trivia, and tributes-as well as tales of fierce rivalries and unforgettable moments." A Yankee Century has it all

Winning more regular season games than any other franchise in the history of baseball, including 38 American League championships and 26 World Series, no team both defined and dominated the sport of baseball in the 20th century as did the New York Yankees. A Yankee Century captures the wonder and mystique that surrounds the team in a detailed album of stories, statistics, biographies, quotes and pictures. Harvey Frommer, a longtime Yankees fan, recreates the frequent highs and few lows of the franchise in an entertaining and accessible manner, relying on countless interviews with the players and coaches that made the Yankees great. The book is divided into a number of diverse sections detailing different aspects of the Yankees, including timelines, memorable moments, rosters, stadiums, and a 100-question quiz. An account by fan Barry Deutsch gives an example of both the power that the Yankees held and the passion that they inspired in their fans throughout the century:

When I was a kid growing up in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, there was no television. You saw occasional glimpses of baseball games in newsreels. You traded baseball cards. But mainly, you listened to the radio and envisioned what was going on. My becoming a Yankee fan had a lot to do with hearing Mel Allen on the radio. I liked his mellifluous voice, the way he described the game and talked about the players. Listening to Mel Allen was my first exposure to baseball, so to me, the Yankees were baseball.... Since those days, I have traveled quite a lot and lived in a number of places outside the United States, and it strikes me as significant that wherever I am, if I mention the Yankees, almost everyone seems to know who they are

If you are a Yankee Fan like myself you probably have a lot of Yankees related books in your collection. Chances are that Harvey Frommer wrote more than one of them. Mr. Frommer, a life long Yankees fan wrote for Yankees Magazine for sixteen years. He also wrote more than thirty Sports books including The New York Yankee Encyclopedia and New York City Baseball. Recnetly he commemorated the Yankees 100th Season with his latest "A Yankee Century. Given 5 Stars by BehindtheBombers.com

This book is the perfect companion for the encyclopedia. It is written so that you can bounce from one topic to the next. It starts you out by looking at a chronological look at the Yankees first 100 years. It takes your from the birth of the Bambino to the dedication of Reggie Jackson's plaque in Monument Park.

What is your favorite moment in Yankees History? Chapter 2 looks at them all and the perfect way to trigger your Yankee memories, both good and bad. The book continues with a Who's Who that cover just about everyone you could think of and a few you couldn't. Then a new twist is added when Harvey Frommer looks back at some of the great and not so great Yankee teams of the century.

Babe Ruth was known as the Sultan of Swat and Mickey Mantle was know as the Commerce Comet. But who what the Brooklyn Schoolboy? Bruiser? Or Dial a Deal? Well all those answers can be found in this book.

Although the Bombers were the first team to wear uniform numbers the next section, "By The Numbers" is more than that. For instance what does the number 4 mean to the Yankees? The most balks in a game by Vic Raschi on May 3, 1950. It is also Casey's streak of managing losing All Star games (1950 to 1953). And of course it is Lou Gehrig's uniform number.

There is a section on Yankee trivia entitled 100 Question Yankee Quiz. This quiz separates the men from the boys and the women from the girls. It covers the ridiculous to the sublime. See just how good a fan you are.

What Yankee Book would be complete without a section where you can find lists, charts, Yankee Firsts, Yankee Lasts, Yankee Longests and much much more.

With an introduction by Yankee favorite Paul O'Neill what more can you ask for. This definitive compilation captures the Yankee tradition in words, stats and photographs. It is the Yankees at your fingertips. It is light reading or something you won't want to put down. A perfect gift for the Yankee fan but buy two you wont want to give it away.

Then pick up this book and confirm it! I'll bet you there are still tips and tricks that you can learn and this book will show them to you. This book definitely falls under the Intermediate-Advanced Access 2000 users category. Those new to Access should go to the Access Bible, ISBN 0764532863.

This book still covers mostly design environment topics, like advanced reporting & forms, SQL, using ADO code to loop through recordsets, VBA tricks, working with other Office apps. If you are looking for advanced Access info like migrating to SQL Server, optimizing multiuser performance or setup/deployment of an application, look at Volume 2 ISBN 0782123724.

I can't even get in to the level of detail this book provides, so here are just a few examples of tips/tricks I found useful in my corporate development:

1. Building an Append query in Access that actually hits an external Excel file.
2. Using a report's NoData event to display a message that there is no data in a report rather than returning or printing a blank report.
3. Sorting & grouping a report on the fly by asking the user how they want to group or sort, then do it with code.
4. An incredible section on how to dynamically optimize the application's screen resolution based on the user's screen size, complete with code you can paste and use!

There are plenty more that I could add but I assume you get the picture! If you are very comfortable with Access, you need this book to complete your library and call yourself an Access Master!

The Access 2000 Developers Handbook is an essential resource for developing quality applications in Microsoft Access. It is the fourth book in the series, with equivalents written for each version of Access starting with Version 2.0, and all of them sit right next to each other on my bookshelf. The code included with the book's companion CD is worth the cover price alone! Although the book specifically targets Microsoft Access, it easily ports to Visual Basic and Active Server Pages applications.

The book contains thousands of lines of highly portable, usable and bug free code. The code included is more than just sample code; it is highly optimized, fully functional and rapidly incorporated into your project. Some outstanding examples include popup calendar and calculator controls, a Text File class which makes it simple to read, write and manipulate text files, form scaling code, Common File Dialog and Office File Open/Close Dialog wrappers, excellent automation samples including manipulating Outlook to generate time reports, and Word to print an invoice. Many of the code samples literally paste straight into the Visual Basic development environment with no modification, and have worked bug free in my applications for quite some time. Additionally, where appropriate, all code included with the Access 2000 Developers Handbook has been incorporated into class modules, which further makes it simple to incorporate into your projects.

The book also has some of the best information about relational database design, SQL syntax and, much more. Microsoft Access encompasses many new technologies, and this book does the best job of providing a navigational guide through them to enable its readers to become high quality, proficient developers. Access Developers can find work developing applications without reading this book, but it isn't a good idea!

If you buy only one book for Access 2000, the Access 2000 Developers Handbook should be the one.

I purchased this book on the recommendation of our local Access SIG group leader. He spoke highly of authors' Access 97 Handbook. I am new to Access and VBA. I was anxious to come up to speed quickly. I first purchased "Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Access 2000 in 21 days" by Paul Cassel and Pamela Palmer. That book put me on the right path. After almost completing that book, I started tackling some complex automation projects. This book accelerated my learning to an amazing degree. This handbook explains the ADO Model, the Object Model and Automation very clearly and logically. The examples are excellent and the companion CD is really useful.

The only topic this book does not cover is the DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange). On the other hand, after reading the book, I realized that the DDE is not necessary for automation since the Object Model is more powerful and efficient.

I recommend this book to anyone who has the need to use VBA for automation and for extending the standard capability of Access 2000.

This is the second book by Dickens I have read so far, but it will not be the last. "Bleak House" is long, tightly plotted, wonderfully descriptive, and full of memorable characters. Dickens has written a vast story centered on the Jarndyce inheritance, and masterly manages the switches between third person omniscient narrator and first person limited narrator. His main character Esther never quite convinces me of her all-around goodness, but the novel is so well-written that I just took Esther as she was described and ran along with the story. In this book a poor boy (Jo) will be literally chased from places of refuge and thus provide Dickens with one of his most powerful ways to indict a system that was particularly cruel to children. Mr. Skimpole, pretending not to be interested in money; Mr. Jarndyce, generous and good; Richard, stupid and blind; the memorable Dedlocks, and My Lady Dedlock's secret being uncovered by the sinister Mr. Tulkinghorn; Mrs. Jellyby and her telescopic philanthropy; the Ironmaster described in Chapter 28, presenting quite a different view of industralization than that shown by Dickens in his next work, "Hard Times." Here is a veritable cosmos of people, neighbors, friends, enemies, lovers, rivals, sinners, and saints, and Dickens proves himself a true master at describing their lives and the environment they dwell in. There are landmark chapters: Chapter One must be the best description of a dismal city under attack by dismal weather and tightly tied by perfectly dismal laws, where the Lord Chancellor sits eternally in Lincoln's Inn Hall. Chapter 32 has one of the eeriest scenes ever written, with suspicious smoke, greasy and reeking, as a prelude to a grisly discovery. Chapter 47 is when Jo cannot "move along" anymore. This Norton Critical is perhaps the best edition of "Bleak House" so far: the footnotes help a lot, and the two Introductions are key to understanding the Law system at the time the action takes place, plus Dickens' interest in this particular topic. To round everything off, read also the criticism of our contemporaries, as well as that of Dickens' time. "Bleak House" is a long, complex novel that opens a window for us to another world. It is never boring and, appearances to the contrary, is not bleak. Enjoy.

After years without picking up a novel by Dickens (memories of starchy classes at school), I decided to plunge into "Bleak House", a novel that had been sitting on my bookshelf for about ten years, waiting to be read. Although I found it heavy going at first, mainly because the style is so unfamiliar to modern readers, after about ten pages I was swept up and carried off, unable to put the hefty tome down until I had finished it. This book is a definite classic. The sheer scope of the tale, the wit of the satire (which could still be applied to many legal proceedings today) and the believable characters gripped me up until the magnificent conclusion. One particularly striking thing is the "cinematic" aspect of certain chapters as they switch between different angles, building up to a pitch that leaves the reader breathless. I can't recommend "Bleak House" too highly. And I won't wait so long before reading more Dickens novels.

"There is little to be satisfied in reading this book"?? I couldn't disagree more. Bleak House left a profound impression on me, and was so utterly satisfying a reading experience that I wanted it never to end. I've read it twice over the years and look forward to reading it again. Definitely my favorite novel.

I don't know what the previous reviewer's demands are when reading a novel, but mine are these: the story must create its world - whatever and wherever that world might be - and make me BELIEVE it. If the novelist cannot create that world in my mind, and convince me of its truths, they've wasted my time (style doesn't matter - it can be clean and spare like Orwell or verbose like Dickens, because any style can work in the hands of someone who knows how to use it). Many novels fail this test, but Bleak House is not one of them.

Bleak House succeeds in creating a wonderfully dark and complex spider web of a world. On the surface it's unfamiliar: Victorian London and the court of Chancery - obviously no one alive today knows that world first hand. And yet as you read it you know it to be real: the deviousness, the longing, the secrets, the bureaucracy, the overblown egos, the unfairness of it all. Wait a minute... could that be because all those things still exist today?

But it's not all doom and gloom. It also has Dickens's many shades of humor: silliness, word play, comic dialogue, preposterous characters with mocking names, and of course a constant satirical edge. It also has anger and passion and tenderness.

I will grant one thing: if you don't love reading enough to get into the flow of Dickens's sentences, you'll probably feel like the previous reviewer that "...it goes on and on, in interminable detail and description...". It's a different dance rhythm folks, but well worth getting used to. If you have to, work your way up to it. Don't start with a biggie like Bleak House, start with one of his wonderful short pieces such as A Christmas Carol.

Dickens was a gifted storyteller and Bleak House is his masterpiece. If you love to dive into a book, read and enjoy this gem!

Cheers to Mr.Thompson for this extremely humerous look at gay life through the truly fabulous eyes of Mr. Buddy Cole. I laughed so hard I fell off the stairmaster at the gym (only read this book in public if you don't mind people edging away from you as you laugh out loud.) I was fortunate enough to hear Mr.Thompson at one of his last readings in San Francisco, and later have the book signed by him. I would hope the publishers at Dell Island Books give Scott the huge advancement on his next book he so richly deserves.

I will admitt this book does start out slow. I'm not big on drug use, but there is more to this book then just comedy. I feel as though it really does portray the life style of a gay man fairly adequately, while being real (thread of aids) and hilarious (as only buddy cole can look at things). I would reccomend this for any Kids in the Hall fan, but if you're not a fan, still give it a shot, it's worth it :)

It is a Brilliant novel. Scott Thompson and Paul Bellini once again show their comic Genius. If there was one thing that could have been changed was that if the book matched the monologes it would have been better for some. I have watched Kids In The Hall and think that the little references in the book that only some would notice was a real relief because I found I got so caught up in the story that I would forget that this is the beloved Buddy Cole of the Kids in the Hall. It is a book I will read again and again.

I absolutely LOVE this book. My son is 11 months old and his attention span is short, to say the least! This book is a quick, rhyming read with exceptional pictures. My son loves the colors and marvels at the different sized dinosaurs and the sing-song in my voice when I read this book. An absolute must!

At first I thought this book was too simple for my 3 year old daughter, but she can't get enough of it. She loves the cute dinosaurs and she loves to read along since she's memorized it. I like it for when I'm too tired to read a longer book and I love the illustrations.

As a mom of two boys-(ages 20 months and 32 months) this book has been a hit since the day I purchased it. The bright colored pictures and sounds of the dinosaurs really hold the interest of my children. Both of my children continue to request this book to be read to them again and again... As a parent, this has also been a great learning book about opposites,e.g.- dirty and clean, dinosaurs roar and squeak). A truly terrific book for young toddlers of 1 1/2 to 3 1/2 years of age.